


You, me, and a week in Nagasaki

by kyballs



Category: Free!
Genre: Acquaintances to Friends to More, Arcade, Boys Kissing, Fireworks, Japanese Culture, Japanese music, M/M, Pre-Dive To the Future, bara boys falling in love, kitten cafe, obon festivals
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-13
Updated: 2019-11-02
Packaged: 2020-03-02 13:41:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 15,371
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18812056
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kyballs/pseuds/kyballs
Summary: He didn’t know Yamazaki Sousuke very well, he’d only swam against him a few times during their last year in high school. Back home Sousuke just seemed so intimidating. Right now, Sousuke just seemed like any other guy, he supposed Sousuke was just any other guy though. Looking at him now, with an adorable kitten in his hands, Sousuke just seemed like as much of a softy as Makoto himself.*rating is subject to change*





	1. Strange Bedfellows

**Author's Note:**

> alright dudes, I felt like writing teen romance novel so here it is.

Makoto’s body ached as he trudged back to his family’s summer home in Sasebo. His parents had given him the duty of watching over Ren and Ran in the close to 9 hour car ride so, along with the small fight he had to break up between his younger siblings, sitting in the back seat had earned him a free pass for the rest of the day. He was allowed to wander around the town however he pleased after they finished their Obon festivities for the day. He enjoyed the Shoro Nagashi this year, their boat was dedicated to Tachibana-ojichan, a strong old man that only his father remembered much of. He and his father spent most of the early morning putting finishing touches on the tiny vehicle, adding Tachibana-ojichan’s picture before packing into the back seat with his siblings.

Now here he was, sweating in his yukata so much the armpits were probably stained, carrying a few cans of wet cat food that he got from a nearby convenience store to feed the stray cats that lounge around their home in Sasebo. The air around him was warm, the late August heat more prominent here than in Iwatobi. A slight breeze blew past him, guiding his sore legs away from the nightlife of the Obon festival and back to the quietness of his bed.  When he finally saw his family’s property, he noticed a large figure knelt over in front of the stairs, walking closer he could see a flock of cats surrounding the giant man.

“Damnit, just let me check your paw!” the man rasped out exhaustedly as an orange kitten jumped around in his hold. Makoto recognized the baritone voice that had rung out from in front of his house but, he wasn’t sure where exactly he knew it from. Walking a little closer, he could see the other man’s face being illuminated by the street light.

“Yamazaki-san?” he called out, wondering how on Earth his acquaintance from Samezuka was possibly at on his front step in Sasebo, surrounded by a variety of kittens. When Yamazaki looked up at him he turned a shade of red, being caught with all the cats, the scene was a rather cute one if Makoto had to admit. Once recognition passed through Yamazaki’s features, the blush disappeared almost completely from his face.

“You caught me off guard.” he joked, hand passing through his hair as did so. “What are you doing here?”

Makoto wasn’t sure what he meant, why was he  _ here _ or why was he in Nagasaki, he figured he’d answer both questions at once. “My family has a summer home here, the one you're squatting in front of. We come down every year for the Obon festivals.”

“This is your house?” Yamazaki asked again, leaping up to full height, “Are the cats yours too?”

“Sorry Yamazaki-san, they’re just strays that like to sleep in our yard. I was on my way with food but, you’ve beaten me to it apparently.” He wondered if Yamazaki had always been this large and he’d just failed to notice. Thinking back, Yamazaki’s impressive size should have been a dead give away a few minutes ago.

“It’s Sousuke, you can call me Sousuke. If you don’t mind, that is.” he muttered the last part, neglecting the cat in his hands to scratch the back of his neck nervously.  “Sorry for being on your family’s property, I found this little one limping back here and wanted to help.”

At mention, the cat meowed, it was the tiny ball of orange fluff that had tried to run away from Sousuke earlier. The kitten must’ve been a new member in the group that took solace in his yard, she only looked to be about 2 months old, which made sense when he put more thought into it.

“She won’t stay still long enough for me to get a look at her paw.” Sousuke spoke out again, breaking Makoto’s silence. The kitten was small enough to rest in one of Sousuke’s giant hands, laying down on her back and flinging her paws around any time his fingers came near her.

Makoto smiled at the cat, “She wants to play with you, Sousuke.” He rubbed his finger on the top of the kitten’s head, much to her enjoyment. The kitten reached up to Makoto’s fingers, tail wagging on Sousuke’s arm as she attempted to play when her paw was carefully taken by the other man’s free hand to be inspected. 

“She has a splinter.” Sousuke determined, his brows knitted together in focus as he started to pull the piece of wood out of the kitten’s paw. 

He didn’t know Yamazaki Sousuke very well, he’d only swam against him a few times during their last year in high school. Back home Sousuke just seemed so intimidating, he stood at about 6’3” and was in phenomenal shape, his frame was definitely something that could be described as daunting. Makoto always found it strange when he had to look up at someone to make eye contact, seeing as he wasn’t the smallest guy in the world either. Right now, Sousuke just seemed like any other guy, he supposed Sousuke _was_ just any other guy though. Looking at him now, with an adorable kitten in his hands, droopy eyes gazing lovingly at her, and a scratch on his face, Sousuke just seemed like as much of a softy as Makoto himself.

“Sousuke, you’re bleeding.” he informed, grabbing a water bottle out of the convenience store bag that was still hanging around his arm. He dampened the sleeve of his yukata and used it to wipe the cut on his peer’s face.

“You scratched me, didn’t you? Crazy little thing.” Sousuke laughed at the kitten in his hands. The smile on his lips blew Makoto away, he’d never seen Yamazaki show many emotions besides determination. Hearing the small but deep laugh leave his parted lips left Makoto with a warm feeling in his chest that he couldn’t describe. “Thank you for all your help, Tachibana.”

“I’m fine with you calling me Makoto, since you want me to call you Sousuke.” he volunteered, sitting down on the front steps of the house. “What are you doing in Sasebo, anyways?”

Sousuke sighed in response, sitting down on the steps and stretching out his good shoulder and cradling the small kitten in his other hand. He wasn’t dressed in a yukata but, he also wasn’t wearing his normal attire either, the shirt adorning him appeared to be from some kind of business.

“My family is from Nagasaki, my uncle passed away earlier this year so everyone is here. He had a restaurant and lived here in Sasebo. I’ve been helping his son, Kazuma, with the restaurant all summer.” he answered, letting the kitten finally run free to play with the others. “Does your family come down often? It seems crazy that this would be my first time running into you here.”

“We used to spend the summer here all the time, this is actually our first day out this year.” He missed Sasebo, going when Ren and Ran were just babies. He and the rest of his family always used to watch the fireworks together at Saikaibashi park. He wouldn’t tell Sousuke all of that, though. “I wanted to spend as much time with everyone as I could this summer, before going away to Tokyo for school in the fall.”

“You’re going to school soon then, all the way in Tokyo?” Sousuke looked at him for a second before looking back to the cats, playing around with each other on the grass before chasing each other around the side of the house. 

“Yes. Haru is going to be in Tokyo for school too, I won’t be too lonely with him around.”

“I’ll still be in Iwatobi, Kazuma needs help with management in the new restaurant since Oji-san passed away.” Sousuke picked at the food stain on his work shirt as he shared the information with Makoto.

“Is that what you want to do?” he asked curiously, he would have never pegged Sousuke as the type to work in a restaurant. He had to hold back a small laugh, he pictured Sousuke as the type to burn water. “To be part of the family business?”

“Are you asking because I’m not attending university?” Sousuke didn’t seem to be angry with the question, simply wondering what prompted it. “I don’t know what I want yet but, I’m having my shoulder operated on. Hopefully I’ll be able to swim again.”

Makoto took the response for what it was, he wasn’t quite sure what he wanted yet either. He didn’t regret his decision to go to school by any means, he could just see where the other man was coming from. “You’ll have to let me know how the surgery goes.”

Suddenly Makoto could feel his heart pounding in his chest, he really wasn’t quite sure what had made him so nervous. He could feel Sousuke’s gaze on his face, it felt like holes were burning into his cheeks. When he turned to meet the glance, he realized how closely he and Sousuke had been sitting. He noticed he striking teal shade of the other’s droopy eyes, the scratch on his face scabbing, and not a single stray hair standing out amongst the thickness of his perfectly groomed eyebrows. Another warm feeling rose in his chest, heart rate skyrocketing while looking into Sousuke’s eyes.

“If you give me your cell number, I might be able to do that.” Sousuke responded rather quickly, although Makoto felt like he’d been staring at him for hours, snapping him out of his daze. He really wasn’t sure what had just come over him just now but, whatever it was seemed to have mostly stopped when he looked away from Sousuke. Before he knew it Sousuke’s phone was already in front of him, waiting to have his contact info put into it. “So, are you going to be here for a few more days?”

“We’re spending the week in Nagasaki, I’ll only have a day or so to pack my bags for Tokyo after.” Sousuke stood, holding a hand out to help him up as well. He took his phone back and opened his messaging appssaging app, typing something quick before Makoto felt his phone buzz.

“Now that you have my number, get a hold of me if you’re ever bored. I don’t do anything besides work. It’s nice to see a familiar face for once, too.”

He tried not to take the offer too seriously, for all he knew, Sousuke was just being polite. He was right though, it was nice seeing someone he actually kind of knew. He may not be close with the other man but, there couldn’t be any danger in getting to know him, right? Nagasaki had always been such a magical place for him as a child, the only person he’d ever gotten to experience it with before was Haru, even then they were just kids. He wasn’t opposed to spending more time with Sousuke.

“I’d enjoy that a lot.” He chose to respond, hoping he didn’t come off as too eager. 

“Cool, it shouldn’t be too hard to hang out between family time and Obon festivals.” Sousuke assured him, depositing his phone back into his pocket, “Are you planning on watching the fireworks at the end of the week?”

“We usually do, recently the twins have been begging to go to Nagasaki Seaside park to watch them. I don’t want to be along for the drive though.”

“You have siblings?” Sousuke asked, he’d forgotten that the other man didn’t already know Ren and Ran. He’d even almost forgotten that this was actually the first  _ real  _ conversation he’d ever had with Sousuke. “How old?”

“They just turned 10 this year.” Makoto smiled thinking about his siblings, one day they’d grow up and go off to college just like he was.

“Ah, younger siblings. Kazuma is the closest thing I’ll ever have to a sibling but, he’s 26. I’m not really sure what it’s like to sit in a car with two 10 year olds.” Sousuke laughed in response.

“It’s fine until they start fighting about something and I have to be in the middle of it.”

“That sounds awful, hopefully you won’t be going all the way to the Seaside park.”

Talking to Sousuke was so easy, he never would have thought the other would be much of a conversationalist but, here he was carrying the conversation like it was nothing. Makoto quickly decided that he could in fact get used to talking more like this with the other man. Maybe now his stay in Sasebo wouldn’t be as boring as it had been in previous years.

“Sousuke, would you like to go inside and talk?” he asked, not knowing why he hadn’t sooner, “I’ve been wearing this yukata for too long.”

“I would, if it wasn’t so late. I have work in the morning and Kazuma’s probably about to blow my phone up with calls. I’ll see you soon though, definitely.”

He felt a tinge of sadness as Sousuke turned to leave, not wanting the night to end yet. It was late though, his family would probably back at the house any minute now. No doubt his father would be carrying one of the sleeping twins back on his shoulders. The last thing he felt like explaining to his mother was who Sousuke was and why he’d been over so late in their empty home. He also really needed to change into his pyjamas, the cool breeze drifting through the sweltering summer air wasn’t enough to rid the heat from his yukata

“You’ll answer me, right? If I message you.” he called out to Sousuke.

“Of course I will, besides, I’ve been hoping someone would come and save me from my family. It’s about time I drag Tou-san and Kazuma home from their nightly tradition of drinking.” a genuine laugh that rang through the stagnant air, Sousuke looked over his shoulder to catch a glimpse of Makoto before setting off to find his family. “It was nice getting to know a little bit about you, Makoto. I’ll see you around.”

“Yeah, see you around.” 

He watched Sousuke’s back as he strode off into the street, pausing once to open the navigation app on his phone. He hoped he’d actually get to see the other man again during his time in Sasebo.

He stood in front of his steps for a minute, unmoving, until Sousuke was out of his line of sight. The uncomfortably sweaty cotton fabric clinging to his body finally got him to enter the house, hopping into the shower before the rest of his family arrived home from the festival. Perhaps they could go to Seaside park to watch fireworks this year, he really didn’t mind the thought of staying in Sasebo to watch them with Sousuke.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yukata- casual summer kimono normally made of cotton, worn often in the summer
> 
> Sasebo- a city in the Nagasaki prefecture
> 
> Obon- a Japanese Buddhist custom to honor one’s ancestors
> 
> Shoro Nagashi- ‘spirit boat procession’, people float boats which are said to be carrying the spirits of the recently deceased down the river into the after life


	2. Days Between

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Yamazaki-san!” he heard both twins yell from the front door, he felt bad for subjecting Sousuke to his touchy siblings like this. He grabbed a t-shirt quickly and pulled it over his head before leaving his room to go save his peer downstairs. 
> 
> “Ren, Ran, tell Sousuke goodbye.” he sighed, walking down only to find both twins climbing on the large man. Sousuke didn’t seem to mind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Monday all :) here’s anotha one
> 
> In which Makoto slowly starts to realize hes got the hots for Sousuke, who already knows probably. Enjoy!

“Onii-chan, don’t leave without me!” Ren called, rummaging through bag after bag to find his new sneakers.

“Do you need help finding your shoes?” he asked, already knowing where they were.

“I’ll help Ren-chan!” Ran called, springing off of Makoto’s shoulder to aid her brother. The twins had been trying to wrack up brownie points with their parents since they fought in the car, wanting to prove that they were mature enough for the car ride to Seaside park. 

Right now, they were going to breakfast at a local restaurant his parents had spotted on their way home last night. The lantern festival wasn’t until tomorrow so his parents were trying to fill the days in between with food and fun for the twins, knowing how antsy they got when there was nothing to do.

Maybe he would shoot Sousuke a text today, he still wasn’t quite sure he wanted to smother the other man with his presence and risk losing his only friend for the week.

“Makoto, Ren and Ran! We’re leaving!” his mother called from the front door and the twins came zooming past him, trying not to be late. Ren still wore his old dirty sneakers, unable to find his new pair, at least he was on time to leave. That wasn’t something that happened very often.

They walked to the restaurant, mostly, Ran spent most of the trip on their father’s shoulders and Ren on his. When they got there, Makoto got the faintest hint of déjà-vu, recognizing the name and logo of the restaurant. They were seated pretty quickly, ordering their food just as fast.

“Makoto?” he heard the deep tone of Sousuke’s voice call out to him. The voice caught the attention of his entire family, turning to look at the young man addressing their son. Makoto felt the tips of his ears get hot, turning to look at Sousuke as his whole family already had. He now wore a band aid over the scratch that had been left on his jawline from the kitten.

“Hi Sousuke.” He replied, not really knowing what to say in front of his family, “I thought I recognized the name of the restaurant from your shirt.”

Smooth.

“This must be your family, I’m Yamazaki Sousuke.” he introduced himself, flashing a toothy smile at the table. 

“Sousuke is a friend from Iwatobi. He’s been in Nagasaki all summer, working here in his family’s restaurant.” he further explained Sousuke’s introduction to his parents.

“Ah, Yamazaki-san is so smart! You should’ve gotten a job over the summer, Onii-chan!” Ren called out over their mother who had greeted Sousuke first.

“It’s nice to meet you, Yamazaki-san.” His father greeted, Sousuke bowed his head politely in return. He was relieved that Sousuke seemed to be fine handling his family by himself, Makoto didn’t need to speak for him. 

“The pleasure’s mine.” Sousuke replied before turning his glance back to the twins and himself, “You must be the twins, Makoto told me all about you two.”

Ren was smiling and chuckling, proud to have Sousuke already know about him, Ran was a different case though. When he turned to look at his little sister for the first time since Sousuke introduced himself, her face was covered in a bright red hue, blushing while staring at Sousuke with her mouth slightly ajar. She was in a complete daze, evidently fawning over Sousuke as he continued to talk to their parents. 

“Ran? Are you alright?” their mother finally addressed her, Sousuke’s -along with everyone else’s- attention now focused on her.

He couldn’t help but let out a small laugh as Ran was pulled out of her entrancement, mouth snapping shut and face practically glowing red. He could only imagine what was going through her mind right now, being the fairytale lover she was, she probably was imagining Sousuke as some kind of noble lord. He leaned in close and whispered in her ear, “Do you think Sousuke is cute, Ran?”

The squeak she emitted after that was so high pitched that Makoto had to move away from her, ears ringing due to his close proximity. He was about to tell her to calm down when Sousuke just let out another laugh, halting both of them from making another noise. 

“It was great to meet you all, I’m sure I’ll see you at the lantern festival tomorrow.” He shot another charming smile, he wasn’t sure if he was just seeing thing but, it seemed to be directed toward he and Ran. “I need to get back to work though, so until then.”

After Sousuke retreated back into the kitchen, it only took about 10 more minutes for their food to come out. Soon after he had started digging into his food he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket.

_ Sou _

_ -wondering if you would want to do something after i’m done here? i have something in mind. _

He glanced up at his family, making sure none of them saw him with his phone out at the table, before responding.  _ Sounds great! What time would that be? _

“Ran, stop playing with your food and eat it.” their mother reprimanded. She’d barely eaten anything in front of her, idly poking the tamagoyaki with her chopsticks. “Yamazaki-san probably made it himself.”

Ran continued to pick at the food for a minute, acting like their mother’s words meant nothing. It only took a few more seconds for her to start shoveling food into her mouth after that though. 

“Do you think I’d be allowed to go out with Sousuke later today?” he asked his parents when he felt his phone ding in his pocket again, only taking a slight glance at Sousuke’s newest text. “Around 3 o’clock?” 

“I don’t see why not.” his father smiled as he replied back. 

“I-I want to go!” Ran hollered out, food still in her mouth.

“Me too!” Ren seconded, already finished with his breakfast. Makoto sighed, this wasn’t what he had in mind.

“I think Makoto can handle himself, don’t you?” their mother asked the twins, both sighing in response. Makoto let out the breath he had been holding in relief, glad that he and Sousuke weren’t being made to babysit.

Upon returning home, Makoto left one of the cans of wet food from last night for the cats, taking another shower when he got back inside. The heat was really making him wish there was a pool nearby, so he could just refresh instantly. He hope wherever Sousuke was taking them was indoor and air conditioned.

Nearly 2 hours later, he still had yet to get dressed. He stood in his boxers, looking through his suitcases and closet to find something to wear. Should he be dressing up or should he be casual? Where were they even going? At this rate, he’d still be half naked by the time Sousuke was off from work in an hour.

“Onii-san?” he heard from behind the door, coming from Ran. “Will you tell Yamazaki-san I said hello? Since I can’t come with you guys.”

He could hear the frown in his sisters voice through the door and he felt a little guilty, knowing she probably just wanted to -literally- hang on Sousuke’s back all night. “You know you’ll see him at the lantern festival, right?”

“Really?” there was an audible change in Ran’s sour attitude after that, clearly she’d been too busy staring at Sousuke to actually listen to him earlier.

“Yes, really. Did you hear anything he said this morning?” he laughed, thinking about how she’d acted upon meeting him. Come to think of it, Sousuke had that effect on Makoto himself just last night, he took one look at Sousuke’s face and his mind blanked. If he didn’t know any better, he’d probably think he was starting to develop a crush on Sousuke too. That was ridiculous though, right? 

The ringing of his phone on the bed ripped him out of his thoughts. He panicked when he read the caller I.D. and he realized he still wasn’t dressed.

“Hi, Sousuke.” he answered while trying to pull a pair of shorts over his legs, holding the phone between his head and shoulder. “You’re here? I’ll be right down!”

He looked out of his bedroom window and to his relief, Sousuke was also dressed casually, no longer wearing his work uniform. He just stood outside of the house, typing on his phone quickly until the front door opened.

“Yamazaki-san!” he heard both twins yell from the front door, he felt bad for subjecting Sousuke to his touchy siblings like this. He grabbed a t-shirt quickly and pulled it over his head before leaving his room to go save his peer downstairs. 

“Ren, Ran, tell Sousuke goodbye.” he sighed, walking down only to find both twins climbing on the large man. Sousuke didn’t seem to mind.

“Goodbye, Yamazaki-san!” Ren said hopping off of Sousuke’s back pulling Ran down with him.

“Yamazaki-san?” Ran called out before they could leave the house. “Will we really see you at the Obon festival tomorrow night?”

Sousuke walked over to Ran, squatting down to her level before replying, “As long as you stay with Makoto, I’ll be able to see all of you.”

Ran’s face lit up, joyous and carefree, before she told the two of them goodbye and followed Ren into the back garden. He and Sousuke fell into stride with each other as they walked to their destination, Sousuke waving to a few familiar faces as they passed through town.

“You know a lot of people down here, huh?” he asked as what seemed to be the hundredth person said hello to the other man.

“Most people just know my family. You’ve heard of the Kato’s, right?”

“Kato as in Kato Kiyomasa’s shrine, in Kumamoto?”

“Well yes but, people don’t recognize me because I’m a daimyo’s distant relative. I do go there sometimes to pay my respects and clean.” Sousuke had a thoughtful look on his face as he continued talking, “Mostly people around here recognize me because of Oji-san, Kaa-san, or Kazuma. Almost everyone in this part of town has been into the restaurant, I’ve gotten to know some of them pretty well by staying here and working for so long.”

“Food has a way of getting people to open up, working in a restaurant must be interesting.” He’d never really had a job other than instructing swim classes but, he bonded with the children there too. He couldn’t imagine remembering the amount of people Sousuke seemed to.

“It’s fun. Working and getting to know the regulars but, it doesn’t amount to anything more than a wave when we pass by on the street. Because of that, I’ve spent the entire summer with my family. I love them but, they drive me up a wall sometimes.”

“I can understand that, Ren and Ran wear me out all the time.” he huffed in response, thinking of all the times he had to cancel plans to watch them and all of the arguments they got into.

“Well, I think they’re great company.” Sousuke laughed, turning to look at Makoto. “No one compares to you though.”

They’d stopped walking but, he wasn’t sure when. The heat of the afternoon sun must have been going to his head, did he hear Sousuke wrong? His heart was suddenly pounding again and he felt dizzied by the other’s unwavering gaze. A soft smile cracked Sousuke’s calm expression and he felt his heart jump into his throat because of it. “I-I think Ran has a bit of a crush on you.”

“I’ve noticed.” he chuckled, “But, we’re here.”

Makoto turned around, ready to see where it was that Sousuke had wanted to go. He’d never been more excited in his life, reading the words ‘ _ Kitten Café’ _ off of the sign over the door. He nearly shrieked in anticipation when Sousuke pulled the door open for him. They took off their shoes when they walked in and sanitized their hands, Sousuke insisted on paying for the two of them for a minute or so before they got slippers from a vending machine. There were about 20 cats lounging about the room when they walked back, some just sitting on the floor and others in one of the many cat towers. He promised himself he wouldn’t squeal when they walked in but, the promise was broken as soon as a munchkin cat nuzzled against his leg.

He thought he had died and went to heaven when he and Sousuke sat on the ground and cats immediately surrounded them. He wanted to take them all home, he didn’t care if his parents disapproved.

“Sousuke, I never want to leave.” he decided this when a particularly fluffy white cat sat down on him. Sousuke laughed and jingled his keys in front of a group of cats who all stood on their hind legs to swat at them.

“I don’t think your family would be very happy with me if I left you here.” he snickered then again, flashed that damn smile.

They were at the cat café for at least 2 hours before they ended up leaving, much to Makoto’s disappointment. His grumbling stomach is what prompted Sousuke to drag him out, since he hadn’t eaten since breakfast. He followed Sousuke through the streets as the sun set, idly chatting along the way to wherever they were going.

“Here we are.” Sousuke announced as they arrived at a large house, “Kazuma and Tou-san are out right now but, my mom might be here.”

“Sousuke, you don’t need to cook for me! I could just go home and make myself something, I don’t want to impose.”

“I cook all day, it won’t kill me to do it again. Besides, it’s for you.” What did that mean? He didn’t have time to think about it, as Sousuke was already opening the door and walking in the house.

“Sousuke, is that you?” a feminine voice called from down the hallway.

“Yeah, I’m home! I brought a friend over!” he shouted back to his mother before leading Makoto into the kitchen, he heard footsteps from down the hallway as Sousuke started rummaging through the cabinets for food.

“You have friends?” Sousuke’s mother was now standing in the doorway and Makoto was currently staring at one of the most beautiful women he’d ever seen in his life. Her hair was long, black, and wavy, her eyes a bright teal and she didn’t look a day over 30. Her genetics must’ve been strong, Sousuke looked  _ exactly _ like her.

“Funny.” Sousuke deadpanned before turning back to the food he was preparing.

“Oh stop, you know I meant here in Sasebo.” she joked, “Are you going to introduce me or are you going to keep sulking?”

“Makoto, this is my mother. Kaa-san, this is Tachibana Makoto. He’s a friend from Iwatobi.”

“Ah! Are you Sou-chan’s age?” she cooed, Makoto got the distinct feeling that she liked to embarrass her son. Sousuke seemed to be immune to it by this point in his life, then again Makoto hadn’t noticed the blush staining his cheeks at the use of the nickname.

“Don’t call me that.” Sousuke interrupted, not even looking away from the stove.

“Yes, I am.” 

“Are you going off to university this year?” she questioned, moving to kneel at the table with him.

“I’m leaving for Tokyo University the day after we get home, I’m still undecided though.” It wasn’t thinking about going to college that made a wave of sadness roll through him, it was the thought of this week ending. He liked spending time with Sousuke, he wished they’d befriended each other sooner.

“Tokyo U is a great school, I’m sure you’ll find your footing soon enough. When are you heading back to Iwatobi?” 

“At the end of the week, after the last festival day.” He didn’t know if his voice sounded as sad out loud as it did to him, he hoped it didn’t show.

“Kaa-san, stop interrogating him. Dinner’s ready.” before he knew it, three plates of vegetables and rice were sat on the table. 

“Itadakimasu.” they thanked Sousuke before digging in. He was truly amazed by Sousuke’s ability to cook so well, wondering if he’d always been good in the kitchen even before working in his family’s restaurant. He’d have to ask later. Right now, he just wanted to enjoy his food.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TRY and tell me lil’ Ran wouldn’t be just as head over heels with Mr. Tall, Dark, and Handsome. as Makoto is. You cannot. “I-I think Ran has a bit of a crush on you.” yeah alright, it’s just Ran.
> 
> Onii-san- Brother
> 
> Oji-san- Uncle
> 
> Tou-san- Dad
> 
> Kaa-san- Mom
> 
> tamagoyaki- japanese egg omlette
> 
> daimyo- fuedal land owner/lord
> 
> Kumamoto- city near Sasebo, Kato shrine and Kumamoto castle are located here
> 
> itadakimasu- Japanese equivalent to ‘saying grace’ before eating


	3. Time Flies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sousuke cleared his throat and he realized he hadn’t said anything in response. Before he could, Sousuke just began grumbling about how sweaty he still was in his traditional clothes. He agreed and said he wished there was a pool in the area they could just jump into, while internally berating himself for not being able to carry on their last conversation. He was into Sousuke, he wasn’t lying to himself anymore. Maybe that was the reason he couldn’t form sentences all of a sudden, he couldn’t imagine how embarrassing it would be if Sousuke had found him out as easily as he did Ran.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hit a nasty writers block and all the chapters I tried to write were super crappy, so here's one that isn't complete garbage!! Enjoy :)))

The morning was spent making an early breakfast as a makeup gift for his parents after staying so late at Sousuke’s house, the rest of the day he spent with the twins making lanterns to hang around their home. Ran was particularly hyper today, asking their mother if she could wear makeup to the festival tonight, even picking out her favorite yukata to wear later. Their mom simply laughed and agreed, going to a nearby store to purchase some clear mascara and lipgloss for her to wear later.

Sousuke would be with his family all morning too, the restaurant putting on their annual breakfast and lunch specials for the Obon holiday. Sousuke’s mother told him about it last night after dinner.  _ ‘My brother, just like our father, loved to play up the Kato ancestry during Obon. I wonder if Kazuma will make Sou-chan and everyone else dress up for it tomorrow.’  _ He wondered what she meant by ‘dress up’, he hadn’t had time to ask further when Sousuke’s grumbling about being called ‘Sou-chan’ again had interrupted him. The interior of the restaurant, dubbed Kato’s, was large and already decorated with Nagasaki’s culture in mind. He could imagine the staff dressing in traditional clothes, playing up the feudal schtick of the place for the week that the town was celebrating Obon, the family heritage was an added bonus to attract customers.

Sousuke had texted him this morning, telling him that his cousin  _ was _ in fact making everyone dress up, much to his chagrin. He just complained that he was going to be sweaty and gross by the time the lantern festival came, saying he’d have to run from the restaurant to meet his parents and cousin earlier in the night. So for now, he just passed the time helping Ren construct more paper lanterns while Ran continued rattling off ideas of how she wanted Makoto to do her hair for the festival.

“Onii-san, how do you know Yamazaki-san?” Ran asked, he was surprised she had kept her curiosity about Sousuke at bay for longer than an hour.

“We swam against each other in high school, he went to school with Rin. Come to think of it, you may have seen him at a swim meet before.” he didn’t fail to notice the blush on Ran’s face, no doubt picturing Sousuke in his jammers. He chose to ignore the tips of his ears heating up as he recalled the image in his brain for a split second 

“What style does he swim?” Ren’s enthusiastic voice popped in from the side, thankfully interrupting his thoughts.

“Butterfly was his best stroke, he was a really strong swimmer.” he noted thoughtfully, trying not to think of the shoulder injury that sidelined him from swimming competitively. 

“We should visit Yamazaki-san at work!” Ran hollered into his ear, tugging at the sleeve of Makoto’s shirt to urge him to move.

“Ran-chan, Okaa-san is making lunch right now!” Ren informed his twin. Normally this would have started an argument but, since the twins were on their best behavior for the weekend, Ran only huffed and turned her back to the two of them.

“Sousuke’s busy right now and you’ll see him at the festival tonight, Ran. Don’t spend the day sulking.” Makoto tried to be stern with her but, Ran wasn’t budging. “I can do your hair now if that will get you to cheer up.”

Just like that, she was back in her happy mood, further questioning him about Sousuke with Ren chiming in from time to time with his own questions.

* * *

The sun was close to setting when they made their way into to the festival being held down town, thousands of lanterns were already hung around Sasebo and hundreds of people walked around in casual and traditional clothing. He was thankful for the drop in temperature that occurred as the sun finally dropped in the sky, allowing him to cool down enough to stop sweating. It didn’t take long to get to the main attraction of the town, the tower of lanterns wasn’t nearly as large as it was in Emukae but, it was still a sight to behold. Family’s were taking pictures of the tower and purchasing from the food vendors scattered around the area, laughing and enjoying the festival with their loved ones. 

He loved Obon, all the sights and food that he got to experience with his family for as long as he could remember. Carrying the twins back to their home in Nagasaki after a long night out at the festivals, getting to stay up past his bedtime to watch the fireworks, he was glad to have all these memories in Sasebo. Snapping out of his thoughts, he took a picture of the tower and sent it to Sousuke, along with a message about how much taller it was from last year. As soon as the message was sent, his phone started buzzing, signaling an incoming call from Sousuke. 

_ “Hey, where are you?”  _ Sousuke questioned as soon as Makoto accepted the call.

“We’re already at the festival, I’m with my family by the lantern tower.” he answered back, distancing himself from his family slightly, not wanting Ran to start tugging at the sleeve of his yukata asking a million questions all related to Sousuke.

_ “I’m at the festival now too, I don’t see you.”  _ he answered back, sounding a little breathless.  _ “Wave your hands or something.” _

He complied, raising his free hand and waving it around, searching through the crowd to look for Sousuke. “I don’t see you either, are you near the tower yet?”

_ “I can’t hear, I think-”  _ He couldn’t really hear Sousuke either, too many people were talking around him. He pulled his phone from his ear and looked at it quizzically, not sure if Sousuke had hung up on him or not. He couldn’t hold in the squeak the escaped his throat when large hands covered his eyes.

“Found you.” Sousuke’s deep chuckle sounded right next to his ear and he let his hands drop from Makoto’s face. 

When he turned around to greet him, Makoto’s jaw almost hit the ground. Sousuke was dressed in black hakama with a red kimono that adorned both the Yamazaki and Kato mon on opposite sides of his chest. He looked inhumanly attractive with the glow of all the lanterns around them illuminating his angular face. Excluding the worn in waraji sandals on his feet, Sousuke looked like a daimyo from the feudal era. 

“Makoto? You there?” Sousuke questioned, effectively pulling Makoto out of his ogling.

“D-did you have to sneak up on me like that?” he joked, glad that he could blame the red hue painting his face on the hot weather if he needed too.

“Sorry about that... ” Sousuke replied sheepishly, closing his eyes and scratching the back of his neck. “So, uh, I’ve been meaning to tell you something.”

Whatever response Makoto was about to say was drowned out by Ran yelling out to Sousuke, “Yamazaki-san, y-you look really handsome tonight.”

“Just tonight?” he laughed, “I’m kidding, you look very pretty too.”

Ran’s face mirrored his own a few moments ago, as red as a tomato while trying to form words back to the tall man in front of her. Before he knew it Ren had also ran up to them, excitedly tugging at the sleeve of Sousuke’s kimono, asking if he could get up on his shoulders. Makoto hoisted Ran up as well and they walked around the festival, watching the different performances going on around them. It was about an hour or so later when they left Ren and Ran with their parents and wandered around the festival together.

The festival was still lively even as the night continued on, street performers were playing music, dancing, and showcasing all kinds of talents around the town, even as they made their way further from the epicenter. 

“Hey, Sousuke?” Makoto broke the silence between them, Sousuke turned to him with a raised eyebrow. “What did you want to tell me earlier? Before Ran interrupted you.”

Sousuke faced the street ahead of them again before replying, “Uh, well… I just wanted to say I’m glad we’ve gotten to know each other here. This has been the most eventful summer I’ve had down here in a long time, if you can believe that.”

“So, you wanted to tell me that you’re happy to have company around?” he laughed in response.

“I’m happy to have  _ you _ around.” Makoto’s eyes snapped to the side to look at Sousuke, who was already looking at him with a fond look in his eyes and suddenly he couldn’t tell if the emphasis Sousuke had put on the word ‘you’ was just his imagination or not. 

Sousuke cleared his throat and he realized he hadn’t said anything in response. Before he could, Sousuke just began grumbling about how sweaty he still was in his traditional clothes. He agreed and said he wished there was a pool in the area they could just jump into, while internally berating himself for not being able to carry on their last conversation. He was into Sousuke, he wasn’t lying to himself anymore. Maybe that was the reason he couldn’t form sentences all of a sudden, he couldn’t imagine how embarrassing it would be if Sousuke had found him out as easily as he did Ran.

“So are you guys going to Seaside park to watch the fireworks?” Sousuke questioned.

“Ren and Ran have been on their absolute best behavior, so I think we will end up going after all.” he responded flatly, thinking about the large crowds of people that would be at the park the night of Minato Matsuri.

“Oh…” he sounded a little disappointed, “Still not excited about it, are you?”

“Not really. Up until this year we’ve always watched them from Saikaibashi park, it’s been our tradition since I was a kid.”

“You could always watch them from the park with me. I mean, if your parents don’t mind.” He felt his cheeks heat up at the offer, he could’ve sworn he saw a blush on Sousuke’s face as well.

“I’d love to, I think my parents would be willing to let me stay.” he smiled back to Sousuke, happy about the invitation to spend the night watching fireworks with his family.

“Lucky for you, I know the best place to see them from. I think you’ll really like it.”

Before he knew it, he was home in bed acting like a giddy little girl that just had her first kiss. His parents had agreed to let him stay in Sasebo and  he’d be able to spend more time with Sousuke before leaving for Tokyo.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Emukae- a town in the Nagasaki prefecture, famous for its lantern festival
> 
> Hakama- traditiona Japanese trousers that tie at the waist
> 
> Mon- emblem to decorate and signify an individual or family
> 
> Waraji- sandals made from straw rope
> 
> Minato Matsuri- fireworks festival


	4. Butterflies In Your Stomach

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “So, uh, how long have you been standing there?” he asked, wanting to know how many times Sousuke had witnessed him getting frustrated with the game
> 
> “Since level 20, I didn’t want to distract you.” he laughed back, clearly witnessing all of Makoto’s frustrated grumbles and shouts. “Video games sure do bring out your competitive side don’t they?”
> 
> “You could say that.” he huffed once more, turning his head away in embarrassment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> another chapter that took me way too long to write, enjoy :)

“It’s so loud in here!” Makoto shouted, trying to talk over the noise of the arcade games and the people playing them. 

“Well, it is the only arcade in the area. It’s always this obnoxiously loud.” Sousuke replied, leaning down to grab their tokens from the machine in front of them. “At least the place is air conditioned, right?”

He sighed in agreement, it was a nice escape from the gross amount of humidity outside. When Sousuke had asked him to the arcade he had been lazing around his house to avoid the heat outside, he’d agreed to come as long is it had air conditioning. 

They’d arrived at an arcade that housed games that had come out before he’d even been born and newer ones too. Sousuke had said he liked the older ones the best, though he grabbed Makoto by the hand and pulled him along to the surprisingly empty Mario Kart games.

His heart leapt into his through at the sudden contact, his palm was probably sweating disgustingly in Sousuke’s hand as he started to think about how nice it would be to hold his hand all the time. He shook the thought away almost as soon as it came, trying to fight the blush that he knew would be coming.  Sousuke let go of his hand as they came to a stop at the machine, sitting down and adjusting into the seat.

“They just got a bunch of new games here. Lucky for us, people aren’t hoarded around this like they usually are.” Sousuke informed him excitedly, he had probably waited decent amounts of time to play in the past.

“I’d think that because everyone has Mario Kart on their home console, it wouldn’t be as popular.” he replied and Sousuke scoffed back to him.

“You’d think so but, it’s a totally different experience than playing at home. Sit down and you’ll see!” he followed Sousuke’s command and sat and the seat next to him. Already he noticed what Sousuke had meant, there was a foot pedal, steering wheel, and buttons on  the panel in front of him. It was a bit different from his Nintendo at home, hopefully not so different that he could back up his claim that he’d beat Sousuke easily. When they neared the end of the game, Sousuke had hit him with a green shell and sped past him through the finish line.

“I’d beat you anytime if we weren’t in an arcade.” he huffed, ever the sore loser when it came to Mario Kart. “You’re lucky I don’t frequent the arcade as much as you do.”

Sousuke continued snickering to himself and walked towards the older games. They continued making their way around the arcade for about an hour before Sousuke stopped to play a first-person-shooter game Makoto wasn’t particularly interested in. Instead, he made his way to the nearby Pac-Man machine. He’d made it to level 80 before dying, shouting out in defeat when his last life had been used. Now that he wasn’t completely immersed in the screen, he realized Sousuke had been leaning against the machine, watching him play for who knows how long. 

“So, uh, how long have you been standing there?” he asked, wanting to know how many times Sousuke had witnessed him getting frustrated with the game

“Since level 20, I didn’t want to distract you.” he laughed back, clearly witnessing all of Makoto’s frustrated grumbles and shouts. “Video games sure do bring out your competitive side don’t they?”

“You could say that.” he huffed once more, turning his head away in embarrassment. 

Sousuke scratched at the back of his neck before he spoke, “Makes me feel like we’re back in school at a swim meet, seeing you get like that.”

“Y-yeah.” he stuttered back, not sure how to respond. Sousuke hadn’t said a word about his shoulder the entire week so he wasn’t sure if it was a touchy subject or not, he had honestly forgotten about the injury until now. “I miss those days already.”

“Yeah, so do I.” He responded, looking at the floor before speaking again, “You’re not swimming at university, are you?”

“No, I’m not. I want to focus on my school work besides that, I could never keep up with the guys on scholarship.” Haru had tried to convince him but, it wasn’t his passion like it was for Haru or Rin, even Sousuke. He wanted to go to school and get a well paying job so he could settle down eventually.

“Hey, don’t sell yourself short. You’re obviously a great swimmer from what I’ve seen.” Sousuke complimented, “I think it’s about time we head out, my eyes hurt from staring at all the screens for so long. Are you ready?”

“Y-yeah, I’m ready.” he answered, ducking away from Sousuke to hide the blush on his face from being complimented. He really had to get a hold of himself, his face was probably going to become permanently red from the ridiculous amount of time he spent blushing during the past week.

“Wanna use our last tokens on the photo booth?” Sousuke asked, nodding towards the array of photo booths near the exit.

“Yeah, sure.” he smiled back. They’d had enough tokens left for the booth between the two of them, so they inserted them into their designated slot and selected their photo layout and border. The camera gave them about 3 seconds between each pose, during which Sousuke would call out a theme for them to follow. The first picture was a funny face, the second was an angry one, then they posed like the tourists they saw at the lantern festival, and then a regular one. They stepped out of the photo booth as it printed out 2 copies, Sousuke handed Makoto his after they dropped out of the machine.

“They’re cute.” Sousuke noted with a laugh, sticking the photos in his pocket. Makoto looked at each picture, the one that stuck out to him the most was the last. At this point, he already knew the effect Sousuke’s smile had on him but this picture made him feel even more tingly on the inside than normal. There was a soft, fond kind of smile on his face and a sort of sparkle in his eyes that the camera surprisingly managed to pick up. He was looking at Makoto himself too, looking at him with a mushy expression on his face. Suddenly his heart was racing again as Sousuke called out to him.

“Yeah, I’m ready to go.” he responded once he broke out of his daze, keeping the photos in his hand as they exited the building so they didn’t get damaged in his pocket. 

“Did you have fun?” Sousuke asked, once they had taken their seats in the bus.

“I did, did you?” He looked at Sousuke who was chuckling to himself.

“Of course I did, I got to take you to one of my favorite escapes in Sasebo.” he said seriously, before adding, “I’m just surprised losing to me in Mario Kart didn’t spoil your day.”

Sousuke just laughed as Makoto grumbled ‘jerk’ and crossed his arms. “I told you I’d beat you on any home system, any time.”

“If I didn’t leave my copy in Sano then I would test out how true that is.” Sousuke managed to say through his laughter.

“I brought mine, if you’re ready to get beaten.” he hoped he could back up his claim, or he’d just feel like an idiot.

“You’re on!” Sousuke held his hand out to shake on it and Makoto’s mild irritation at being picked on was overridden by the butterflies in his stomach.

Soon enough they made it back to Makoto’s home and luckily for him, he took the first win and his ‘I told you so’ was shut down by Sousuke’s claim that he had let him win. Which led them to where they were now, on their 30th round racing each other. Since his win count outnumbered Sousuke’s he figured he’d proven his point enough times.

“I think we’ve played enough,” Makoto started as he stretched his back, “Rainbow Road always gives me a headache.”

“I’ll agree with you on that.” Sousuke laughed, laying back onto the floor. “I’m still better though.”

Makoto stuck his tongue out at him as he sat back up, looking at Makoto the same way that he had in their photo booth picture.

“Y-yeah right.” Makoto stuttered back, feeling a bit flustered by the intensity of Sousuke’s gaze.

“I have to work in the morning, I should probably get going home.” Sousuke informed.

“Let me walk you out.” With that Sousuke gathered his things and let Makoto escort him out of his room to the front door. 

“I had fun with you today.” Sousuke said once they were standing on the porch.

“I had fun with you too.” he answered back, shutting the door to give them some privacy from the twins.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, after I’m done at work maybe?” Sousuke asked. Suddenly Makoto realized how close they were standing next to each other, how Sousuke’s large frame hadn’t at all moved to accommodate him on the small porch, their faces a mere few inches from each other. 

All he could do for the moment was stare at Sousuke’s face, taking in his droopy, blue eyes and the soft smile adorning him. His mind wandered to thoughts of what it would be like to kiss him right now, his lips looked ridiculously soft and Makoto wanted to feel them against his own. He could see Sousuke moving closer to him and he wondered if he was thinking the same thing about him. Their faces were so close, he felt like he couldn’t breathe at this point, mind racing from one thought to the next. Just as he felt like it was going to happen, he spoke out.

“Y-yeah, definitely! J-ust text me when you’re done.” The words came out in a jumble, speaking almost as quickly as his heart was pounding. Sousuke seemed like he was miles away now, scratching the back of his neck with a solemn kind of grin adorning his face.

“I definitely will,” he took a hesitant step forward, but then backed away again and walked off of the porch, giving Makoto a salute as he backed down the road. “See you soon.”

He waved goodbye and waited until Sousuke was out of sight to smack his forehead, “Stupid!” If Sousuke really had been about to kiss him and he ruined it, he’d beat himself up for the rest of his life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope you all enjoyed, thank yous for all the love ❤️


	5. Heart-to-Heart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I, uh- I was just finishing packing up my things. I’ll be ready in a few minutes, if you don’t mind waiting?” He motioned for Sousuke to follow him, his mother telling Ren to hop off his back.
> 
> The backpacks, suitcases, and duffle bags filled with clothing, notebooks and miscellaneous items in his room seemed more apparent than they had yesterday when they were only focused on proving who the better Mario Kart player was. He only had 2 full days left in Sasebo before he’d be off to Tokyo for his first term of university. His heart sank a little thinking about it, he’d had the entire summer to make memories with Rin, Nagisa, and Rei and he was thankful for that. He’d even have Haru close by at Hidaka University for his stay in Tokyo, which was a blessing. He felt like the universe was playing a sick joke on him, having him build such a quick friendship with Sousuke on the last week of summer. He wanted more time with him, more time to figure out all of the confusing feelings he had for Yamazaki Sousuke.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so I really popped of and wrote a long one this time, the motivation to finish this story finally hit me like a truck so here’s the next chapter! hope you lovvvve it :)

“Makoto!” he heard his mother yelled up to him, over the noise of his siblings giggling and laughing loudly, “Yamazaki-san is here for you!”

He immediately halted in packing his bags, spine straightening to attention at the mention of Sousuke. He hadn’t texted today, had he? He wasn’t even aware that Sousuke was done working yet. “I’m coming!”

As expected, Ren was hanging around Sousuke and talking about whatever he was thinking about, while Ran sat next to the two of them on the couch. He was glad that his siblings liked Sousuke almost as much as he did, his parents did too.

“Hey.” Sousuke said softly, standing from the couch with Ren still attached to his shoulder like he was his own personal jungle gym. 

“Hey.” he responded, still feeling a little awkward about the night before. He still wasn’t sure whether or not he had imagined Sousuke leaning in to kiss him or not, or if Sousuke had noticed him staring at his lips like some kind of lovestruck idiot. He most definitely didn’t have dreams about it actually happening when he went to bed either, not that he’d ever admit to anyway.

“Sorry for showing up randomly, my phone’s been dead all day.” he paused to scratch the back of his neck, Ren still hanging onto his shoulders talking loudly to Ran. “I figured I’d come by before I went home, since you’re closer to the restaurant than I am.”

“I, uh- I was just finishing packing up my things. I’ll be ready in a few minutes, if you don’t mind waiting?” He motioned for Sousuke to follow him, his mother telling Ren to hop off his back.

The backpacks, suitcases, and duffle bags filled with clothing, notebooks and miscellaneous items in his room seemed more apparent than they had yesterday when they were only focused on proving who the better Mario Kart player was. He only had 2 full days left in Sasebo before he’d be off to Tokyo for his first term of university. His heart sank a little thinking about it, he’d had the entire summer to make memories with Rin, Nagisa, and Rei and he was thankful for that. He’d even have Haru close by at Hidaka University for his stay in Tokyo, which was a blessing. He felt like the universe was playing a sick joke on him, having him build such a quick friendship with Sousuke on the last week of summer. He wanted more time with him, more time to figure out all of the confusing feelings he had for Yamazaki Sousuke.

“Are you excited to start this new part of your life?” Sousuke asked, breaking him from ruminating any longer. “Tokyo is going to be exciting.”

“I’m a little intimidated by Tokyo,” he answered honestly, “It’s so different from Iwatobi and Sasebo, I haven’t really known anything besides them.” 

“At least Nanase will be nearby, right?” Sousuke countered, trying to provide a comforting thought. 

“Y-yeah, at least I’ll have Haru. So, did you have anything in mind for today?” he changed the topic, not really wanting to think about the fact that he’d be leaving in a few days.

“Oh yeah, would you happen to have a bike?”

* * *

 

“Are you going to tell me where we’re going?” Makoto asked, following Sousuke’s suit and hopping off his own bike. They’d only been riding for about 10 minutes but he was unfamiliar with the area they were now in. 

“Nope, but I will tell you Kazuma showed me this place last year. He told me he used to come here with his friends all the time.” was the only explanation he got from Sousuke before he started walking his bike into the wooded area in front of them, “You coming?”

He was curious, so he caught up to Sousuke, following him deeper into the wooded area. The sounds of different animals and insects were now drowning out the road noise behind them. The shade being cast by the trees was nice in the intense heat of Sasebo in the summertime, but it didn’t do much about the humidity.

“Here it is.” Sousuke announced, stopping so abruptly that Makoto nearly ran his bike into him. In front of them was a giant pond, that was hidden pretty deep into the woods, and a rope swing. 

“A pond?” Makoto questioned, although it was pretty apparent that it was in fact a pond he wasn’t sure what else to say. They hadn’t worn their jammers or trunks, or even brought them here. His unasked question seemed to have been answered when the sound of Sousuke’s bike falling on the ground caused him to look over.

“Want to go for a swim?” he asked, hands already at the bottom of his shirt at the ready to remove it. He felt like a pervert watching Sousuke take his shirt off, the scene playing out in slow motion in front of him. Sousuke hadn’t let himself go at all over the course of the summer, if anything it seemed like every single muscle he had was bigger and more defined than they had been during the last time they saw each other at a swim meet. He couldn’t do anything besides helplessly look at the absolutely perfect man undressing next to him, until the discomfort in his own pants had made itself apparent. He quickly took off his own shirt and pants, deciding he needed to get in the water before Sousuke also noticed the slight hard on he had in his boxers. 

“You better take the rope swing!” Sousuke called behind him, working on pulling his own shorts down. Makotot didn’t need to be told twice, all he needed right now was to get his lower half out of Sousuke’s sight. He took a bit of a running start and grabbed onto the rope, swinging out far enough to land in the deeper water before letting go.

The pond was deeper that he thought, the water coming up to his shoulders when he was standing. Sousuke was already swinging in after him when he emerged from underwater, landing in a cannonball right next to Makoto. It only took a few seconds for Sousuke’s head to pop through the surface of the water, pushing his hair back from his face as he stood to full height. 

“You said at the lantern festival that you wished there was somewhere you could go swimming, this place slipped my mind until last night.” Sousuke shouted to him from deeper in the pond a while later, Makoto was just surprised Sousuke had even remembered that he’d said anything about swimming. 

“Did towels slip your mind too?” Makoto joked back after swimming out to meet Sousuke, earning him one of the other man’s gorgeous smiles in return. He wondered how he’d gone so long without seeing Sousuke smile before.

“Hey, I figured our clothes were already soaked with sweat right?” he quipped back, a larger-than-life laugh rumbling out of his chest. It wasn’t like he was wrong, the humidity had gotten so bad that it was impossible not to sweat, he wondered if they’d even be able to set fireworks off with all the moisture in the air. “What are you thinking about?”

Sousuke’s voice captured his attention, refocusing it back on the giant, attractive man in front of him. He wondered how long he’d be able to keep pretending he only thought of Sousuke in a friendly way. He hoped for the sake of him that he’d be able to at least make it until the end of the week. 

“Do fireworks even go off when it's this humid?”

“I think they do,” Sousuke answered with a laugh, swimming closer to Makoto, “Did your parents say you could stay here with me for fireworks?” 

“Y-yeah, they’re going to take the twins to Nagasaki Seaside Park.” Once again, Makoto felt his nerves start to get the best of him with Sousuke being so close to him. He didn’t notice the darkening of the sky or the amplified noise coming from the insects in the woods around them, he was too hyper-aware of Sousuke right now. 

Sousuke’s lips were moving but he couldn’t bring himself to pay attention to what was coming out of them. That mushy look in his eyes, the same one from the photos they took yesterday, was the one he was currently looking at Makoto with. It made Makoto’s body feel hot all over, even though he was nearly fully submerged in the cool pond water. He wondered why the hell Sousuke had such a strong effect on him, now trying to stop the memory of Sousuke pulling his shirt of earlier from playing on repeat in his brain. Why was he standing so close? Why did he always look at him with those perfect blue eyes and dreamy expression? Why did he have to make Makoto react to him this way?

Sousuke had already stopped talking, noticing the hazy look in Makoto’s eyes, “Makoto… can I k-” 

A thunderclap interrupted his question, as well as the shriek that came from Makoto. Before he could stop himself, he was pressed flush against Sousuke with a death grip on his shoulders. He didn’t let go until the rain started drizzling down moments later, terrified because of the thunder and embarrassed that he’d latched onto Sousuke so quickly.

“I think that’s our cue to leave,” Sousuke commented on the incoming storm, “Are you alright?”

“Y-yeah, I’m fine, just not a huge fan of thunderstorms.” He responded quickly, already swimming out to land.

They grabbed their clothes and threw them on quickly, grabbing their bikes and walking them out of the woods until they could get to the sidewalk. They were almost halfway home when the rain started pouring down, successfully drenching their already wet clothes. He followed Sousuke back to his house, the two of them agreeing it would be best to just get inside as soon as possible. 

“Sousuke? Is that you?” his mother called from the back of the house.

“Yeah, Makoto’s here too.” he called back to her, making a b-line for his room, “Come on, I have extra clothes you can borrow.”

He stood awkwardly in the corner of Sousuke’s bedroom, clothes and hair dripping on the hardwood flooring as Sousuke dug through his closet. He was thrown a sweatshirt, shorts, and a pair of boxers to change into, while Sousuke had already started to change. He turned around quickly before he ran into the same problem he had at the pond, stripping down and getting the boxers on as fast as he could.

He heard Sousuke speak behind him,“Kaa-san can drive you home if you want, or you could stay here and wait it out. It’s up to you.”

“I… I don’t really want to go back out right now, if that's okay with you?” Makoto admitted. He still didn’t turn to face Sousuke, feeling a little foolish now that he knew Makoto was still afraid of thunderstorms at 18 years old.

“Of course it is.” Sousuke returned right before another thunderclap roared through. Makoto jumped a bit but was stilled by Sousuke’s hand on his shoulder. “What do you normally do when it storms like this?”

He took a deep breath, trying to get his body to stop shaking so much and trying to clear his head enough to respond to Sousuke. His hand stayed firm on Makoto’s shoulder, slowly rubbing circles on the back of his neck with his thumb, Makoto felt touched that Sousuke was being supportive of his stupid fear of storms. “I listen to music normally, I don’t have my earbuds though.” 

“I have a pair. I don’t have the adapter for your phone though, and I’m not sure you'd like my music.” 

“Anything would help.” Makoto admitted quietly, staring at the ground as he spoke. Sousuke’s eyes softened in response to the scared man in front of him, fetching his phone from the bed beside him.

“Damnit, it’s still dead.” Sousuke hissed faintly, “I have a CD player. I know it’s not the same but, anything helps?”

Makoto smiled in relief as Sousuke opened a drawer full of albums. He peeked over his shoulder to see what kind of music Sousuke was into and he was a bit surprised. “You like visual kei?”

“Kaa-san raised me on X Japan. I guess it stuck, huh? She used to follow them around the country, it’s actually how she met Tou-san.” Sousuke chuckled, looking fondly over the large collection of various visual kei artist’s albums. “I have other genres if you aren’t a fan.”

“N-no! I mean, I don’t  _ not  _ like rock music. I’ve just never really given it a chance.” Makoto disclosed, “I mostly listen to whatever is popular at the time, I don’t have any favorite bands or singers.”

“Seriously?” Sousuke yelped, a look of disbelief  adorning his face now, “Have you heard of any of these bands?”

“I know about X Japan, but I’ve never listened to them.” the look on Sousuke’s face was laughable, somewhere between shocked and insulted.

“Hold on,” Sousuke dug through the drawer to pull out a clear case with a plain disk inside of it. “Here it is.”

“What is it?” He pried, interested to know what was on the CD.

“A mixtape of my favorite songs, I made it a few years ago but they’re all still classics for me.” Sousuke stared at the CD like it was his prized possession, he felt honored that Sousuke was sharing something he cared so much about with him. It didn’t take long for Sousuke to put the disk in the stereo and start playing the music, pulling a Shogi board from the drawer beside it. “Want to play?” 

He just nodded and Sousuke set the game up on the floor, humming along to the hiphop music that was playing in the room. They played shogi for most of the night, listening to about half of Sousuke’s mixtape until it stopped storming. 

“I should probably get home now, Ren and Ran are expecting me to put them to bed tonight.” he wished he could just stay here with Sousuke forever, he wanted to learn more about him. He liked knowing what kinds of music listened too, how his parents met, and how he's surprisingly amazing at shogi.

Sousuke stood and held a hand out, “I’ll walk you home.” 

Makoto took his hand and stood, falling into Sousuke to avoid kicking the shogi board on the ground. His face lit up in a heavy blush and he pulled back quickly, excusing himself to the bathroom so he could splash some water in his face to cool down. When he walked out to meet Sousuke again he was talking to his mother near the front door.

“Tachibana-san! I apologize for Sou-chan’s inability to check the weather, you’re not feeling sick are you?” she doted, checking Makoto’s temperature with the back of her hand. 

“Don’t call me that.” Sousuke huffed out, turning away before Makoto responded.

“I’m fine, just a little tired.” he sighed as her hand left his forehead.

“You feel warm, just go home and get some rest. You don’t want to miss the fireworks tomorrow night, do you?” she laughed, sauntering away from the  two boys, “I’ll be seeing you, Tachibana-san! Don’t be too late coming home, Sou-chan, you know I worry.”

Sousuke merely grumbled at the nickname, putting his shoes on as he walked out the front door. Makoto followed suit and met Sousuke out front, he was already carrying Makoto’s bag on his shoulder and picking up his bike to walk back to its home in Makoto’s shed.

“Does it hurt still?” Makoto asked, breaking through the peaceful silence of their walk home. Sousuke looked over to him, not really as alarmed as Makoto thought he would’ve been at the mention of his injury.

“My shoulder?” he confirmed before answering, “Sometimes I push myself too hard and it does hurt then. It's mostly just an aching or soreness that never really manages to go away.”

“I’m sorry about that.” was Makoto’s return.

“It’s my own fault, a result of pushing myself too hard. No one is accountable besides me, especially not you, Makoto.” They came to a full stop right before the porch of Makoto’s house. To think he’d only come across Sousuke right here a few nights ago was crazy, now here they were having an intimate conversation in the same spot. 

“I just wish I could be of any help.” he confided.

“You’ve taken my mind off of a lot of the pain.” Makoto let out a gasp at Sousuke’s confession, his head snapping up to meet Sousuke’s eyes. They were swimming with an emotion Makoto couldn’t really put a name on, but it caused the butterflies in his stomach to flutter around intensely.

“I really appreciate you for being so nice about today.” he looked back down at the ground before continuing, ”I probably seemed like a giant kid, getting so afraid like that. Not to mention, it probably ruined your day.”

Sousuke’s hand on his cheek brought him back to standing at attention, “It wasn’t an inconvenience, I had a great day with you. Plus, who would’ve known I’m better than you in Shogi and Mario Kart.”

He laughed with him for a minute before Sousuke slipped Makoto’s bag off of his shoulder and handed it to him, “Goodnight, Sousuke.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow, at the festival.” Sousuke informed, reminding Makoto of the sad reality that his remaining time with Sousuke was coming to an end too soon for his liking. “Goodnight, Makoto.”

He hadn’t realized Sousuke’s hand was still on his face until the warmth of it disappeared, now watching Sousuke turn to walk back home. He reluctantly turned to his front door and opened it, halting again to watch Sousuke’s retreating form.

He dug through his bag to pull his wet clothes out to put in the washing machine when he found a CD case in his bag, a clear one with a plain disk and a small note inside.

 

_ If you decide to finish the mixtape, I saved my favorites for the end. -Sousuke _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Visual Kei- a movement among Japanese musicians, characterized by the use of make-up, elaborate hair styles and flamboyant costumes
> 
> Shogi- a popular variation of chess in Japan
> 
> Sorry for geeking about Japanese music but I love it so much, and I think Sousuke would enjoy rock music a lot too. Anyways maybe Makoto will realize that Sousuke’s got it bad for him too, maybe he won’t, find out next chapter :))


	6. Lovesick

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “They’ll be waiting for you when you come home.” Sousuke assured him, a soft smile on his lips as he placed a hand on top of Makoto’s own. ‘What about you?’ is what Makoto wanted to ask. He was terrified that Sousuke would forget about the time they spent together here in Sasebo, he was terrified that he’d forget how good Sousuke made him feel. He wished he’d picked a better time to fall so head over heels for the other boy. “Sasebo will be waiting here for you too.”
> 
> Makoto smiled, “I hope so. I just wish this vacation didn’t have to end.”
> 
> “Me either.” Sousuke’s hand tightened around his own, sending jolts of electricity through Makoto’s spine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> another extremely late chapter, sorry about that, i owe you guys big time.

Sun filtered through the window, effectively waking Makoto around noon. He’d been awake all night listening to the mixtape Sousuke had left for him, hearing all X Japan, Luna Sea, the Gazette and more had to offer. How in the world was he supposed to sleep after all that happened yesterday? 

Sousuke used to be someone he only thought of when talking about swimming or talking to Rin, meeting him in Sasebo wasn’t something he expected and neither was the overwhelming amount of emotion he now felt while thinking of the other boy. He didn’t expect for Sousuke to be so charismatic, patient, and kind to him, especially since they’d never spoken much before, but he was. Now everytime Makoto wasn’t focusing on something else, thoughts of Sousuke invaded. His brain was in overdrive, in his dreams and even now as he woke up. Little things about Sousuke were staying ever present in his head, like how his laugh always rumbles through his entire chest, how he smells like pine needles and citrus, how broad his shoulders are, how his nose crinkles when he smiles, how his eyes are the color of the clearest sea. 

The mixtape Sousuke had given to him was still playing on repeat in his stereo, the soft sounds of Nujabes floating through the room as he stayed staring at the ceiling. He felt a tear slip from his eye and quickly wiped it away before sitting up and stretching out. When he thought of Sousuke, he thought about having to leave Sasebo so soon. He wished that he’d had the entire summer with Sousuke, more time to sort through the new emotions the other was bringing out of him.

He figured it would be best to get up and spend the rest of the day with his family before they drove down to the seaside park for the night. He checked his phone and saw a few messages from Sousuke and a missed call from Haru… Haru! He’d been so wrapped up in Sousuke he’d forgotten to give Haru updates on their vacation to Sasebo and the Obon festivals. He sighed, deciding what all he wanted to share with Haruka as he dialed the other’s number.

_ “Makoto?”  _ Haru answered after a few rings.  _ “You’re not too busy to talk anymore?” _

“Ha, I’m sorry about that. A lot has been going through my head recently, it slipped my mind.”  he admitted, unsure if he wanted to talk to Haru about the ‘Sousuke thing’.

_ “I guess I can forgive you.”  _ He responded plainly, though Makoto could identify the sarcasm in the statement.  _ “I guess I haven’t missed anything exciting then, tell me about the festivals.” _

“Well,” he started, deciding that if he was going to tell Haru about Sousuke, he’d save it for the end of the call. “We finished the boat for Tachibana-ojichan after we arrived in Sasebo, the Shoro Nagashi was as beautiful as ever.”

_ “You already told me about Shoro Nagashi, you went radio silent after that.”  _ Haru reminded him.

“Oh, yeah.” he fidgeted with the sheet in his hand before continuing, “The lantern tower was bigger than last year, still nowhere near as big as the fixture in Emukae, but still impressive. Minato Matsuri is tonight.”

_ “That’s all? You normally describe the whole day in detail. The twins weren’t very entertaining this year I guess.”  _ Haru added with a laugh.

“You’ll never guess who’s down in Sasebo right now.” he started while Haru remained silent on the other line, not bothering to guess. “Y-yamazaki Sousuke.”

Haru continued to remain silent, “H-haru?”

_ “Did you run into him? He didn’t give you any trouble did he?”  _ he finally responded, concern lacing his voice.

“I ran into him trying to pull a splinter from a cat's paw,” he sighed, recalling the memory of Sousuke grumbling while the kitten wriggled around in his hands, “I’ve, uh, actually spent most of my time with him after the Shoro Nagashi.”

He was caught off guard by the sound of Haru hanging up on him, did the thought of Sousuke really bother Haru that much? A few seconds later his phone rang again, this time it was an incoming video call from Haru.

_ “Sorry, poor connection. So explain to me this whole Yamazaki thing.”  _ Makoto was starting to wish Haru had actually hung up on him so he didn’t have to talk about it.

“Well, his family is from Sasebo. He’s been working in his cousins restaurant most of the summer. Ran actually has a pretty big crush on him.” He laughed nervously, fully aware that he has much more complicated feelings for Sousuke than his little sister does.

_ “How could anyone ever have a crush on Yamazaki?”  _ Haru scoffed lightly,  _ “He’s such a miserable looking guy.” _

“Because Sousuke‘s ... n-nevermind.” he decided it best not to get too defensive. “He’s fun to be around, we’ve hung out everyday this week.”

_ “Oh? What have guys been doing?”  _ Haru inquired, the quizzical stare he was giving went unnoticed by Makoto.

“Well he showed me to a cat cafe, an arcade, and a lake. We played Mario Kart for hours one day and he cooked for me on another. We’re watching Minato Matsuri at Saikaibashi park tonight.” he couldn’t stop the fond smile that appeared on his lips while talking about Sousuke.

_ “Makoto, do you  _ **_like_ ** _ Yamazaki?”  _ Haru asked, effectively halting all of Makoto’s brain function for a few moments.

“H-how, how could you tell?” he questioned, knowing it was best to not hide how he felt from Haru.

_ “Your face flushed like a tomato the second you started talking about him.”  _ came the plain response,  _ “It sounds like he likes you too.” _

“Why do you say that?” he asked nervously, treading lightly with his questioning.”

_ “You don’t…”  _ Haru looked at Makoto frustratedly before continuing on,  _ “It just seems like he does. I have to go get some laps in, I’ll talk to you tomorrow.” _

“Okay, talk then.” he said his goodbye, hanging up the phone and seeing the notifications from Sousuke.

_ Sou _

_ ill swing by after work and walk you to my house tonight _

_ my parents normally give my a bottle of sake if you’d be interested in that _

He blushes reading the messages, excited to watch the fireworks with Sousuke later in the night. Maybe he would have a shot of sake to celebrate the last night of Obon. He confirmed with Sousuke and put his phone down to finally greet his family and hop in the shower.

 

* * *

 

Ren and Ran were hugging him like it was the last time they ever would before they left for the park a few hours past noon. It hit him that the last time he would hug them for a long time was tomorrow, it made him tear up thinking about it, that familiar feeling of sadness sitting in his throat. His parents hugged him the same way, his mother told him to have fun with Sousuke and that they’d miss him. 

He spent his time tidying up the house, making sure his parents would have less to clean up when it came time to leave for Tokyo. He blared the stereo in his room, the music from Sousuke’s mixtape now filling the house.  He tried his best to keep from getting emotional, but the more rooms he tidied up the more he realized that he was growing up. 

He rubbed at his eyes to stop the tears flowing from them before hearing a knock on the door. He opened the door to Sousuke, who’s normal stoic expression changed to one of worry, as soon as his eyes landed on Makoto’s.

“What’s wrong?” he asked stepping into Makoto’s home, “You can talk to me if you want.”

He opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. He felt his eyes beginning to well once again, the tears that were threatening to spill burning eyes. Sousuke just continued to look at him, waiting for any indication of what was going on. He tried again to speak, still his voice wouldn't work, tears of frustration finally falling from his eyes.

“Hey,” he felt a hand on his shoulder for a brief moment before he pulled Sousuke into a tight hug. He didn't know what he thought would happen next, but the feeling of Sousuke’s arms wrapping around him was comforting. “It’s okay, Mako.”

They stood there for a while, Sousuke’s arms still around him, rubbing circles into his back as Makoto collected himself enough to speak. He pulled back from Sousuke’s embrace, hiding his face behind his hair, “I’m sorry about that. I just… I just-”

“You don’t have to tell me right now.” Sousuke stated, leaning close to make eye contact, the softest of smiles on his lips. 

“Thank you…” Makoto felt a bit breathless as he replied, noticing the tiny freckles on the bridge of Sousuke’s nose. “I just need to get my things together, should I change into my yukata?”

“Yeah, you can change out of it before we go to the park if you’d like. Kaa-san loves making people dress up for parties.” was Sousuke’s answer.

Though Makoto wasn’t aware of any parties, he assumed it was just going to be Sousuke’s family. The thought of meeting Sousuke’s father and cousin made him feel nervous, but he tried to keep that in the back of his head as he changed and packed his bag. 

 

* * *

 

“Daisuke, Kazuma, this is Tachibana Makoto. He’s one of Sou-chan’s friends from swimming!” Sousuke’s mother introduced him to her husband and nephew.

“It’s nice to meet you, Yamazaki-san, Kato-san.” he greeted, bowing his head respectfully.

“Kazuma is fine! I feel too old when people call me Kato-san.” the younger man laughed, earning more from Sousuke’s parents. He looked a bit like Sousuke, he was around Makoto’s height with green eyes and dark brown hair, his smile nearly as infectious as Sousuke’s own.

“At least she doesn’t call you ’Kazu-chan’ anymore.” Sousuke commented grumpily from his position behind Makoto, earning a deep laugh from his father.

“Yamazaki Daisuke. It’s good to finally meet the boy Sousuke has been spending all his time with this week.” Sousuke’s father spoke for the first time. Though Sousuke looked almost exactly like his mother, he could tell he still got a few things from his father, his height and the stern resting expression on both of their faces. He shook the older man’s hand before Sousuke’s mother pushed the two towards the buffet of food Kazuma had cooked in the backyard.

“Sorry, Kazuma and Tou-san love to spend majority of Obon drunk, Kaa-san too.” Sousuke apologized while making a plate for himself.

“Don’t be sorry, everyone has been very polite to me.” he affirmed, smiling sweetly back to Sousuke as he plated his own food.

“I’m really glad you got to stay in Sasebo for tonight.” Sousuke confessed as he bent down to grab chopsticks for the two of them. 

He thought his heart had stopped dead when Sousuke looked up at him through thick lashes as he began to stand back at full height, eyes swimming in some kind of emotion that Makoto didn’t have the heart to think about right now. He felt a deep flush blossoming from his face down to his neck as he accepted the chopsticks from Sousuke, who was still looking at him with such a dreamy look in his eyes.

“Me too,” he felt breathless under the larger boys gaze, immediately trying to focus on something other than Sousuke to stop the emotion he wasn’t ready to put a name on from washing over him. “I’m glad too.”

He quickly turned away from Sousuke, finding a seat for both of them to eat at and trying his best to get his breathing back to normal. Upon sitting down and eating they mostly people watched the guests of the party, mostly a collection of Sousuke’s parents' and late uncle’s friends.

“Is this usually how you normally spend the night of Minato Matsuri?” Makoto questioned as they walked back into the house to dispose of their plates.

“Every year except for this one.” Sousuke gave a cheeky grin before swiping a bottle of sake from the kitchen counter and ducking out of the front door with Makoto in tow.

“Sousuke! Do your parents  _ actually _ give you a bottle or do you just grab one?” he quietly scolded once they made it out front, Sousuke stowing the bottle inside of the kimono he hadn’t had time to change out of earlier.

“They said I could grab a bottle, don’t worry.” He laughed in response, walking alongside Makoto towards Saikaibashi park as the sun continued to lower itself in the sky. “Here, take a shot with me.”

He didn’t know what to expect from the drink, as he’d never had anything alcoholic before, but he didn’t completely hate it. The taste was harsh, but the warm feeling of it running down his throat was enjoyable. Sousuke was already pouring out another shot for himself, clearly not worried about police as they shuffled through crowds of people.

He watched as Sousuke tipped his head back and swallowed, a small amount of sake spilling from his mouth and running down his neck. His breath caught in his chest at the sight, or maybe it was more from shock at himself for wanting to kiss it off of the other boy’s jawline. 

A quick moment later Sousuke wiped his face clean, turning to Makoto once again, “Want another?”

“Yeah, please.” He knew he needed something to calm his nerves right now and he hoped this would do the trick. He quickly drank the liquor, not wanting the taste in his mouth for longer than it had to be. “How do you enjoy this stuff?”

Sousuke chuckled for a few seconds, clearly witnessing the sour face he must’ve made as the sake entered his mouth. “My parents have been letting me drink sake on the night of Minato Matsuri since I was 15. I hated it at first too, but Kazuma and Tou-san drank it and I looked up to them, so I kept drinking it and it just kind of grew on me.”

“It most definitely is an acquired taste.” he put out, stopping at the top of the steps into the park.

“Definitely.” Sousuke confirmed before taking a few moments to look Makoto in the eyes affectionately, “Hey, let me show you something.”

He nodded in response, too flustered to speak. Sousuke grabbed his hand almost immediately, pulling him away from the stairs and towards the wilderness of the park. He was walked downhill through the trees on the outskirts of Saikaibashi park and all he could see was the back of Sousuke’s body leading him ahead. He liked holding Sousuke’s hand, it was large and warm, somehow much larger than his own and he really, really liked holding onto it. 

Then suddenly Sousuke slowed down and let go of his hand, taking all of that warm feeling away with it. “Here, here it is.” 

He heard Sousuke say, finally pulling his gaze from the other’s hand and looking up at the view ahead of him. It was beautiful from the clearing they were standing in, a perfect view of Omura Bay between the Shinsaikai and Saikai bridges and the sakura trees covering Sasebo. Despite the beauty of it all, a strong bittersweet feeling hit him as he looked back at Sousuke once more. The other boy was setting out a mat for the two of them to sit on, motioning Makoto over when he was done. He sat down next to Sousuke silently, trying to shake the heavy feeling from his chest. He was leaving  _ this  _ in less than 24 hours, he was leaving Sasebo behind and Sousuke with it. It broke his heart to think about this weekend finally coming to an end, to think about not having Sousuke a few minutes away from him anymore. He grabbed the sake bottle from between the two of them and took another shot from it, wanting to cheer up and enjoy his last Obon festival of the year. 

“What’s on your mind?” Sousuke questioned, “What’s been bothering you?”

He took a deep inhale before answering, “I just can’t believe that I’m leaving tomorrow. I’m not ready to leave Sasebo, not yet.”

“I know exactly what you mean, how you feel. We’re becoming adults and it’s terrifying.” he responded, hitting the nail on the head.

“I was cleaning around the house before you came over today. All these memories I had in the house just came back to me. Ran took her first steps in that house, Ren didn’t start walking for another month or so, he took his first steps in Iwatobi. It hurts to think about missing out on their lives, on their other ‘firsts’.” He admitted, he felt the same way about leaving Sousuke, he didn’t want to miss Sousuke like he knew he would.

“They’ll be waiting for you when you come home.”  Sousuke assured him, a soft smile on his lips as he placed a hand on top of Makoto’s own.  _ ‘What about you?’ _ is what Makoto wanted to ask. He was terrified that Sousuke would forget about the time they spent together here in Sasebo, he was terrified that he’d forget how good Sousuke made him feel. He wished he’d picked a better time to fall so head over heels for the other boy. “Sasebo will be waiting here for you too.”

Makoto smiled, “I hope so. I just wish this vacation didn’t have to end.”

“Me either.” Sousuke’s hand tightened around his own, sending jolts of electricity through Makoto’s spine.

“I’ve had so much fun with you in the past week.” Makoto admitted, the sake seeming to give him enough liquid courage to tell Sousuke this much. “I can’t remember the last time I enjoyed myself this much in Nagasaki. This whole time, before coming here I mean, Rin had me thinking you were bad with directions”

“I’m not good with directions,” a light laugh came from Sousuke’s lips, “My mother’s family has lived here since she was young, I’ve been coming to Sasebo since I was in diapers. It’s not home, but I wouldn’t mind if it was, ya know? But I’ve had my whole life to discover everything this city has to offer, I wanted to show you the best parts. I wanted to show you  _ my _ Sasebo.”

Makoto couldn’t do much besides stare at Sousuke, not knowing how to respond with the feeling in his chest being so apparent now. He tried to form words but a bright burst of color in the sky caught his attention before he could. The fireworks had started and it was absolutely stunning from the spot Sousuke chose for them to sit. He could hear in Sousuke’s voice earlier how much he loved this city, with each passing day Makoto could see why he did. He’d fallen in love with Sousuke, and his Sasebo, at the same time. 

“Kazuma showed me how to get here when I was 10.” Sousuke continued, “He took me here for Minato Matsuri all those years ago and this is the first time I’ve been back since.”

“Why is that?” Makoto asked, scooting closer to hear Sousuke over the fireworks.

“Normally we’d watch fireworks from the yard, you can see them pretty clearly but not like this. I’d never seen anything like this before and it took my breath away.” Sousuke had turned to face him, he could feel the other exhale right next to his ear now and every hair on his body began to stand on end. “That day I decided that the next time I came here, it would be with someone I care for, someone who makes me feel like this view made me feel all those years ago.”

“Please, don’t be joking.” He answered, slowly turning his head and meeting his eyes with Sousuke’s. He leaned closer to the other’s face with half lidded eyes, “I don’t think I can handle it if you are.”

“I really like you Makoto,” Sousuke confirmed, shortening the distance between the two of them even more. “I really, really like you a lot.”

“I really like you too, Sousuke.”  His mind was sent in a spiral the second Sousuke closed the remaining space between their lips. Sousuke was kissing him, Yamazaki Sousuke was fucking kissing him and it felt better than he had ever imagined. He felt Sousuke’s arm snake around his waist, pulling him as close as he could manage. His lips felt so soft moving along his own and Makoto wanted more, he threw his arms over Sousuke’s shoulders to try to get closer, opening his mouth for the other. The kiss intensified, Sousuke’s tongue entering his mouth as soon as access was granted, rubbing against his own, lapping at his lips. He pulled away before it went any further, feeling himself starting to get a little too worked up.  

“I’ve been trying to do that for days.” Sousuke admitted with a laugh.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> an extra long chapter to end that extra long wait, once again, sorry guys.
> 
> comments are appreciated :)


End file.
